The Senate finally speaks on patent reform…sort of

Last month, Senator Ensign and 15 co-sponsors introduced the National Innovation Act of 2005 (S. 2109) in the Senate. The bill touches on patent reform but is not the Senate’s patent reform bill that many observers are anticipating. Rather, the bill presents a comprehensive set of initiatives in education, tax, defense and other policy areas aimed at promoting innovation in the United States.

It is, however, an interesting patent reform resource. As introduced, the National Innovation Act of 2005 includes a “Sense of Congress” section on patent reform. This section specifically lists PTO funding reform and establishement of a post grant review system as things the “federal government should do.” To date, twenty-two Senators have signed onto this “Sense of Congress” section.

Make no mistake about it - this bill is not a serious vehicle for patent reform legislation in the Senate. In essence, the “Sense of Congress” section is nothing more than a resolution-style expression of a prevailing belief that reform of the patent system is an important issue. Notably, based on the broad nature of the bill, it has been referred to the Committee on Finance, not Senator Hatch’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property. Also, Senator Hatch is not currently a co-sponsor of the bill (the bill currently has 22 co-sponsors).

At least now we know that reform of PTO funding and establishment of a post grant review system has the support of 22 Senators. No word yet on whether they support the “second window” or any of the other controversial details underlying these and other patent reform issues.

I have updated the PTP Patent Reform Library to include links to .pdf copies of the bill as introduced as well as the comments made on the floor upon introduction.